Food Insecurity in the Sahel
26 June 2012
There is currently a severe food and nutrition crisis in the Sahel which is expected to peak in June 2012. It is estimated that 18.7 million people are at risk of food insecurity and nutrition. More than 1 million children are at risk of severe acute malnutrition and around 3 million are at risk of moderate acute malnutrition.
Countries affected include: Mauritania, Senegal, the Gambia, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Nigeria and Cameroon. The United Nations and its humanitarian partners launched an appeal on 19th June 2012 to enable them to continue providing food, nutrition, water, shelter, health services and agricultural support in these nine countries.
Fighting between the Malian army and armed groups in northern Mali has displaced more than 250,000 people since January 2012. This is exacerbating the crisis, with refugees fleeing to neighbouring countries including Algeria, Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Niger placing additional pressure on local populations already suffering from a lack of food and nutrition. More than half of these refugees are children. Humanitarian organisations are struggling to carry out assessments of the situation as well as delivering aid owing to poor infrastructure and insecurity.
In addition, a meningitis epidemic is affecting a number of countries in the Sahel including Chad, the Gambia, Burkina Faso and Mali. Between January and April 2012, a total of 16,199 cases of meningitis resulted in 1,398 deaths.
Advice for those working, travelling or living in the affected areas
• Meningitis is spread by respiratory droplets and good hand hygiene is the best means of prevention of transmission, in addition to the vaccine.
For further information see the following pages on THAC:
• Meningitis ACWY
• Meningitis Update
• Burkina Faso country profile
• Chad country profile
• Mauritania country profile
• Niger country profile
• Nigeria country profile
• Senegal country profile
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